Driving Plan 9

Glenda_lives_on writes "OSnews has an alternative OS review on Plan 9. Plan 9 is a research OS produced by Bell Labs. It was open sourced a few years back, and has enjoyed a revival of sorts. Los Alamos National Labs is continuing to favor Plan 9 for their new generation of super computing because its the fastest thing out there. I have downloaded and ran Plan 9 before. In fact the Plan 9 live cd sits here on my desk. Its not an operating system for noobs however, and lacks some graphical refinement. Plan 9 is a very cool and a interesting test drive however. Its definitely worth the price of admission (free) for exploring, and education."

Oh, slashdot

[Zouden]

I have downloaded and ran Plan 9 before. In fact the Plan 9 live cd sits here on my desk. Its not an operating system for noobs however

What is this, digg?

Re:Zzzzzzz.....

[ems2]

"We have persistent objects, they're called files." -- Ken Thompson [bell-labs.com]

Re:Now YOU look stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that the "Your stupid minds! STUPID! STUPID!" line is a quote from the movie, I suspect the OP knew that.

Re:Now YOU look stupid.

[andreMA]

Actually I took the "not entirely successful" to be a reference to the TOS episode The Ultimate Computer, where (when discussing the M-5) Kirk asks Daystrom (the inventor) about M-1 through M-4. Daystrom responds that they were "not entirely successful"

I thought it was funny, playing one of the cheesier TOS episodes against the extremely cheesy Plan 9 From Outer Space

Re:I'm a "Plan 9 from Bell Labs" user

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux is derided in the mailing list ("For amateurs, by amateurs") as well as the failings of the other braindead OSes we have to deal with ("If only they did it like us").

I hope you aren't interested in growing the Plan 9 community with an attitude like that.

If you supposedly have a superior OS, you can afford to have some class about it.

Re:I'm a "Plan 9 from Bell Labs" user

[ttfkam]

There's no point calling a turd a diamond to save the feelings of the person who shitted it out.

However you don't tell someone their house is a shithole that only an idiot would want to live in even if you have a better home proposed. You point out the merits of the new house over and above what they have now.

Otherwise you will be perceived simply as an asshole calling someone an idiot. It might make you feel better, superior, etc., but it guarantees that you and whatever you're bringing to the table will be ignored or actively derided.

You hurt your cause by your presence. People will avoid Plan 9 not for its failings, but because it is associated with assholes, for example, you. If your goal is to kill the project, then by all means continue insulting others because you think they deserve it. If you actually want to foster adoption, perhaps a measure of diplomacy and a modicum of decorum would help.

In short, don't be a dick. As an added bonus, that advice works for more than just software.

Re:"lacks some graphical refinement"

[LWATCDR]

1. It is a research OS.
2. It isn't about HCI.
3. Most of the modern GUIs also seem to care very little about usability as much as they do about marketing.
The truth is that modern GUIs seem to be more about distraction than actually getting work done. I admit that I to love my eye candy but that isn't what Plan 9 is all about.
Maybe that should be the next step for Plan 9. Since Plan 9 seems to be a great solution for distributed systems maybe some university should take it and start working a research project GUI for it.

Re:Zzzzzzz.....

[Anonymous Coward]

>I would expect to be able to do all of the above from any userland application.
lot's of the fileservers serve are in user space, like rio, acme, and other stuff like
the usb drivers.